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02 June 2011

Flats and handwashing challenge recap

The Flats and handwashing challenge is officially over!!! I would be lying if I wrote I was sad about this. I am thankful for my maid AKA the washing machine.

Overall, I do think it was a good experience though. I was able to get over my fear of using flat diapers. I had to learn the folds and see what worked for Charis. I found what worked best for her was the pad fold in the Flip diaper. Unfortunately, we could not do this 24/7, such as when her Flip diaper would get soiled. They origami fold worked well for us, but the drawback to this was, I had to use 2 flat diapers because I needed to get a bigger rise. See my reason in OsoCozy flat diaper review. And because of this, I was not willing to try using any folds at night (except folded up in her FuzziBunz, BumGenius, or Handmade diaper).

Because of this challenge, I see at least ONE change coming in our cloth diapering practices.

Now, I plan on using folded flat diapers as inserts in pocket diapers, such as FuzziBunz or BumGenius. For two reasons, 1) Flat diapers dry faster than microfiber inserts and 2) Microfiber inserts tend to stink MUCH easier.

I would be willing to do this IF I HAD TO. If I had to COUNT EVERY PENNY, I would do this. Yes, things are tight with us, but thankfully, not that tight. If I had to do handwash diapers all the time, I would do a few things differently.

Buy different brands of flat diapers. Some flat diapers might work better for smaller babies and other diapers would work better for larger babies.

Have 24-36 flat diapers in my rotation. I would not want to spend up to an hour every night handwashing diapers. Doing it for one week is one thing, but I would not want it to rule over me.

Purchase at least 2 more Flip diapers. Like I wrote earlier, the pad fold worked best for Charis in a Flip diaper.

Use disposable inserts when I am out of the house. On Sunday night at 6:00 PM, Charis had a HUGE BM (I blame the cauliflower from the night before) and cleaning it at home is much better. With an insert, I would have had an easier time.

I would probably try to find a washing facility that would allow me to wash the flat diapers every 2 weeks in a washing machine, even if they were "clean". There were times, especially when Charis had a BM, that I was not completely positive the diaper was sanitary.

I would buy a few yards of a hemp/cotton blend or bamboo fabric and make a few flat diapers and doublers with a sewing machine. I would do this to help increase absorbency at night.

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I am a Christian and a wife to an amazing husband, a mum to a 2nd grader, a 3 year old son, and an unborn son. I am homeschool SAHM. I write about knitting, breastfeeding, reading, cooking, baking, crafting, cloth diapering, and babywearing.